We pay our actors pretty well and we give them a bonus if they show up all 9 nights, but night after night actors call and say they can't make it, is anyone having similar experiences and if not what do you do to prevent this problem

We created a verbal contract with our actors. The contract was this: they show up all nights, on time, and stay until closing... in return they get paid for all that time at the end of the season. If they didn't show up then the contract was broke and there wouldn't be a pay day at the end.

Of course, there were some exceptions. Some people had something important come up they couldn't avoid. However, due to the initial face-to-face agreement we made, not one of the 45 paid staffers just didn't show up, arrived late, or left early without telling us. At the end we paid everyone for their time regardless. Even the guy who stole some of my masks (didn't have sufficient proof) and got high and left early. Even if someone had quit mid season (which no one did) we were going to pay regardless if they got aggressive or had a good story.

The idea was that the possible threat of not being paid for breaking our verbal contract kept everyone honest. It worked for us.

There is a $10 bonus per night SCHEDULED. They can let me know at beginning of season I'm gone oct. 22nd and excused. Those who work schedule is last minute ..you just deal with it and roll. no longer do I get people watching the game then lose the $120 bonus. Grandma died.... hey man I'm sorry yes you are excused...just bring me the obituary for records. (bringing the obituary is actually in the time schedule and actor policies paper they recieve at beginning of the year). I always staff a few extra's for the occasional no show. With night base pay and bonus they recieve $10 an hour for time here. I am one of these crazies that shares the proceeds.

Yup- like above + we try and "read" our staff and schedule them accordingly.

I always schedule days off for ALL staff in advance- some more than others.

Your "softies" will take the days off. Your "hard core" will show up anyway and usually work for free because they love it.

Bonus bait is a great idea as is strict rules about attendance. Tell them on sign up day, every night at your pre-show meetings, and every flipping time it crosses your mind- like 20 minutes before the door opens and you are missing staff...

No one likes an asshole leader, but the ones you want on staff will respect direct, fair and clear leadership.

Managing haunt staff is a lot like herding cats- total chaos!

Good luck!

How can a man die better than facing fearful odds, for the ashes of his fathers and the temple of his gods.

Here is one solution ... hire a lot more people than you need. Instead of making schedules just tell them to show up and the first X amount of people get to work, those who show up late or not at all obviously don't work.

Its a huge problem because this isn't a real full time job you can't pay your bills working this job so people have to keep a real job and some people who work for you can't keep a job no matter what... the guys and girls who have real passion for it show up 2 hours early every night. Its a mixed bag but I get it... if I was in some of their shoes I would have to do the same thing.